Off-road company donates over $100K toward new all-abilities park in Hurricane

Matt's Off-Road Recovery presents a check for $100,000, Hurricane, Utah, May 5, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Hatcher, St. George News
Matt's Off-Road Recovery presents a check for $100,000 at the Hurricane City Council Meeting, Hurricane, Utah, May 5, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Hatcher, St. George News

ST. GEORGE —An off-road recovery company famous for its YouTube channel utilized both its merchandise and fans to contribute over $100,000 toward the installation of a new all-abilities park in Hurricane.  

Matt's Off-Road Recovery presents a check for $100,000 at the Hurricane City Council Meeting, Hurricane, Utah, May 5, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Hatcher, St. George News
Matt’s Off-Road Recovery presents a check for $100,000 at the Hurricane City Council Meeting, Hurricane, Utah, May 5, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Hatcher, St. George News

Matt Wetzel, owner and founder of Matt’s Off-Road Recovery, told St. George News that the Hurricane Rotary Club started the process of gathering donations to open a park that offers all-ability equipment, much like the Thunder Junction All Abilities Park in St. George. Matt’s Off-Road Recovery then joined in and used its audience to help gather resources.

Wetzel said they started by donating Matt’s Off-Road Recovery merchandise to be sold, with all proceeds — some $30,000 — going to the charitable park project. 

They discussed the charitable project on their YouTube channel and created a donation page on their website. Wetzel said they were able to raise $70,000 from online donations, resulting in a total of $100,000 in donations for the new all-abilities park.  

“Our original goal was to raise $50,000,” Wetzel said. “So we blew past that and now we’re just super happy with the direction it’s going so we haven’t set another goal, just seeing where it land.”

With the cost of the park estimated at $500,000, Wetzel said the city of Hurricane will donate $200,000 and the Hurricane Rotary Club needed to come up with the rest, equalling about $100,000 in donations still needed to complete the project.

Matt's Off-Road Recovery presents a check for $100,000 at the Hurricane City Council Meeting, Hurricane, Utah, May 5, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Hatcher, St. George News
Matt’s Off-Road Recovery presents a check for $100,000 at the Hurricane City Council Meeting, Hurricane, Utah, May 5, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Hatcher, St. George News

Wetzel said he and several employees attended a City Council meeting on May 5, where the city approved the purchase of the park equipment by August of this year and that the city of Hurricane also pledged the $200,000 at the meeting. The goal is to have the park completed and open by spring 2023. The all-abilities park will be at Dixie Springs Park in Hurricane, an existing park that has plenty of space to add the all-abilities equipment.

Matt’s Off-Road Recovery has put on multiple charitable drives in the past, including the Cache Valley Cruise-in, where they raised $11,000, the Hurricane Valley Food Pantry, where they raised $20,000, Shop With a Cop, where they raised $30,000, and Tan’s Treats, where they raised $5,000 and their highest charitable drive to date – the Hurricane All Abilities Park, coming in at $100,000 and counting.

Wetzel said that when they stage events, they invite fans from their YouTube channel to come out and meet them, as a way to give back to the fans and give them a chance to participate in the charitable projects they take part in. And any merchandise purchased on those days goes toward the charity projects. Attendees are also directed to the website if they choose to donate further.

Matt’s Off-Road Recovery 

It was while promoting his towing company, Winder Towing, on Facebook that Wetzel said he began to notice that photos of his off-road recovery ventures had a much higher engagement than anything he posted of tow-truck-related events.

He said his goal was to separate his tow company from other tow companies in the area when he realized that people were more interested in the off-road recovery work.

Friends and family began to tell him he needed to start a YouTube channel and that he easily could start a business from that alone. He said he did the research for nearly a year and realized people were interested in what he was doing and that it could be a business by itself.

Matt's Off-Road Recovery presents a check for $100,000 at the Hurricane City Council Meeting, Hurricane, Utah, May 5, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Hatcher, St. George News
Matt’s Off-Road Recovery presents a check for $100,000 at the Hurricane City Council Meeting, Hurricane, Utah, May 5, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Hatcher, St. George News

“So I started filming and editing and uploading and it took off really fast,” Wetzel said. “I didn’t have any help from any other YouTubers. It was pure grassroots like I put my videos on YouTube and YouTube’s algorithm showed my videos to people and they liked them and it just grew really fast from there.”

Wetzel said he has been running this business for about three years and that they currently have over 1.1-million subscribers on YouTube. He said the business has gone from just a few employees  to over 13 full-time employees running Matt’s Off-Road Recovery YouTube company.

With the audience that Matt’s Off-Road Recovery now has, Wetzel said they are commonly referred to as influencers because they have an audience that cares about what they’re doing and what they think.

“Our goal is to be a positive influence on the internet,” Wetzel said. “Parents don’t have to worry about their children or grandchildren watching any of our content, whether it’s on YouTube or Instagram or Facebook or Patreon. We don’t have any content that isn’t safe or positive. With the influence we have we want to give back to the community to help the human condition.”

Donations for the all-abilities park in Hurricane are still open on Matt’s Off-Roading website and will remain open until Sunday, May 15, at midnight. Direct donations, however, still may be made to the Rotary Club until the park is fully built.

“It’s the best place in the nation to live and we like supporting it,” said Jeffery Hatcher, manager at Matt’s Off-Road Recovery said about Southern Utah.

To make donations to the park via Matt’s Off-Road Recovery website, click here. Both the car show donations and the pre-order car show patch proceeds will go directly to the charitable park project. To donate through the Hurricane Rotary Club, visit their website.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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